Letters to the Editor for Feb. 21, 2014

Friday

Feb 21, 2014 at 12:01 AM

Sun readers share their thoughts on U.S. spy programs, the federal health care law, students and voting, and more.

Question of fairnessIn a Feb. 12 column by Jose Castaneda, he admitted that Democrats are trying to protect their advantage on campus by ensuring that students can participate in early voting. He implies that students are being denied the same rights as other voters to the advantage of Republicans.Students are not being denied the right to vote but the convenience of early voting. But student voting raises an even bigger question of fairness. A vast majority of students’ homes of record are somewhere other than Alachua County.As a group they are impressionable and idealistic with little life experience.They are easily influenced by an academic community that is noted for its liberal leanings.How is it fair that the students are allowed to vote for local candidates on issues that will affect the local community far into the future? They are leaving tax burdens and policies to the true, tax-paying residents of the area.T. J. Kmet,Gainesville

Driving forceOnce upon a time, the city of Gainesville took great pride of being a “tree city.” In 2007, Gainesville Regional Utilities pushed energy conservation and told us how we could cut the cost of our GRU bill.I took the bait ­— I changed light bulbs out and bought an energy-efficient air conditioner and hot water heater. Then came the fancy wood-fired power plant that uses trees. Now we are hearing that GRU energy consumption is down correlating in a loss of revenue for GRU.What is the driving force behind the silliness? Could it be the City Commission that oversees GRU? This calls for a solution that takes the commission out of the decision-making process. After all, the majority of the elected officials do not care about our pocketbook.Sorry state Rep. Keith Perry, while I understand you have a plan to fix this mess, the mess shows why we need term limits.Dave Hill,Gainesville

Objective truthKathleen Parker wrote a very witty Feb. 18 column, stating that people who still think Obamacare is a good idea are living in a fairy tale. She then proceeds to give her own fairy tale.The Congressional Budget Office attributes the job loss related to Obamacare mostly to older workers retiring because they are now able to get their own health care. The jobs themselves are not lost, and new workers will fill them. People will be freed to take chances and start their own businesses.Parker also completely ignores the objective truth that health care was and is the biggest single drag on our economy, and one of the main reasons wages for the bottom 99 percent were flat for the past 30 years. Most of the country agreed something had to be done, and the Republicans were asked for their input but were committed to obstructing Obama at every single opportunity. Jeanne Galligan,Gainesville

Greedy peopleI take recycling from two separate households to the rural collection center between Alachua and High Springs. At the facility is a shelter that people can drop off usable items for people that may not have extra income to buy the usable items. My wife and I have dropped off items there instead of throwing them away. I think it is a great idea except for the vultures that circle the facility to get items for their second-hand stores. They wait for people to drop stuff off and then pull up and load their cars with the donated items. I see the same people there over and over again loading their cars. The people that work at the facility see the same people there as well.The same people are seen at the other rural collection centers doing the same thing. Leave it to a few greedy people to ruin a great idea.Mark Avery,Gainesville

For security’s sakeFreedom is our birthright and it is also enshrined in our Constitution. We love our freedom more than anything else, so we get very upset when the government starts collecting information about our phone calls. So why does our government knowingly infringe upon our freedom?There are bad and good elements in every society. We are surrounded by friendly as well as not-so-friendly countries. Some of them are bent upon harming us. They are all spying on us including Germany, whose chancellor is worked up about the National Security Agency.In society no one is really free. We are bound by social, legal, moral, ethical, religious and political constraints. We also have to be constantly prepared to meet any outside aggression. The government has to collect intelligence to protect us.It is certainly compromising our freedom but some sacrifice is needed on the part of everyone for the sake of security.Nand Sharma,Gainesville